Prom Lesson
by presidentofteamjacob
Summary: Edward never came back. Bella and Jake didn't get together, because Bella is an idiot. A couple of years have passed and Bella went away to College. Now Jake's graduating from high school... but Bella is the one who's finally growing up.


_**One-shot. **_

_**Edward never came back. **_

_**Bella and Jake didn't get together, because of Bella being a 100% idiot. **_

_**A couple of years have passed and Bella went away to College. **_

_**Now Jake's graduating from high school... but Bella is the one who's finally growing up.**_

-oooo-oooo-ooooo-ooooo-

The ultimatum from Billy was set in stone. His steely eyes said he meant business.

"Youth doesn't come back, you know son? Much as I'd wish." He sighed for effect. Jacob could swear he even squirmed his useless legs a bit, just to appear weak and sad.

"That idiot sister of yours was married by your age. The other one is never heard from. Why must _my_ kids be all sorts of crazy?" He squiggled his bushy eyebrows, looking pained.

"Do your old man a favour, will you please? And go to that prom of yours so I can at least imagine you're a normal, happy kid."

_Suuuuure, sure. _

Didn't Billy know - going to the prom meant taking a date?

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x _

The La Push gang was at the movies, killing time. The only other option was studying for finals, and that was seriously boring.

Yuck. This horror movie was totally gruesome. Even Jacob was a bit disgusted. He was too cool to be flat-out freaked of course. Besides, he was a werewolf. Werewolves didn't get freaked at horror movies - they were real life marvels, (or so he tried to convince himself, trying to look away from the screen without letting anyone's supernatural peripheral vision detect his frantic eyes.)

_Surely one human body did not contain this much blood and gore!_ Admittedly, he hadn't actually seen a dead human being (only vamps in his line of work) but this - _this_ was too much. He was thinking about the best way to avoid shuddering so that the five other werewolves seated around him did not immediately start calling him a girl.

They were _with_ girls for goodness sake.

Just then a massive zombie burst out of a wall, and plunged his hand straight into a girl's guts. Hearing gasps next to him, (and maybe to avoid looking at the screen for a bit), Jacob peered blindly to his side.

What he saw was May -

stuffing her fist into her mouth -

to stop from laughing -

_at the zombie._

He let his breath slowly leave his body, staring at her in abject wonder. Just then she turned to him, her hand still over her mouth, said, "Jacob - will you quit hogging the popcorn?"

But she couldn't stop a giggle from escaping. "Mmppphhh... Can you _believe_ these zombies?"

Jacob did a quick calculation in his head, then shrugged internally. At least _this girl_ could see the absurdity of monsters that fed on humans.

There had to be some merit in that.

"May?" He asked, trying to keep his voice low.

"Yeah?" Twinkling eyes. Big sip from the oversize coke container in her lap.

"Will you go to the prom with me?"

Jake felt clumps of popcorn hitting the back of his head from at least two wolves, even as a third let out a low wolf-whistle.

"Of course," She said cheerfully, making no effort to contain her grin. Pausing to take another sip from her coke container, added, "Seriously thought you'd never ask."

-x-x-x-x-xx-x-xx-x-

Jacob knew Billy told Charlie because Billy told _everyone. _

_Billy was that happy. _

Billy had thought his son would die lonely and alone, waiting for a girl who'd left for College and forgotten all about him.

Billy had thought he was a little mad.

Billy was relieved.

Jacob knew Charlie and Bella talked as little as they could manage. That is to say, they talked often, without really saying much. They really just wanted to let each other be.

_Did you see them, Billy? How they didn't pile on their hopes on top of each other so the other could breathe?_

Yeah. That's what Jacob was talking about.

But this was lost on Billy, who didn't lose his silly grin _the entire week_, and continued to tell everyone.

Now that he was going, he might as well do it right. He rented a tux and polished the Rabbit. He even went over to May at lunch to ask the colour of her dress, so he could get the right corsage and tie.

All her friends burst into giggles. Jacob frowned, feeling out of his depth. _Not cool. _

May didn't though. She just said, "I haven't decided a dress yet. If you pick up white, I'll make sure I'll get something that goes with it."

The prom was in _two days_. She didn't have a dress?

She really was the perfect date for him.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Did East Coast colleges have a mid-mid term break at this time? He didn't think so, but then he didn't know anyone who'd gone to an East Coast college that he could ask.

The only person he knew should be at her East Coast college was, in fact, in town.

_Strange._

How Jacob found out was also strange. He was putting final touches on the Rabbit, bent low over the hood with his radio on loud, so that when he heard the sound of the truck he told himself it was another trick his diseased imagination was playing on him. _Stop being sick, mind._

But the scent was unmistakeable. The narrow door of the garage didn't let in much of a draft but he could smell her anyway - and if that wasn't her then he really was sick, that's how sure he felt.

Not knowing what to do in either event he stayed still and tinkered. Light footsteps sounded in the doorway.

"Hey Jake"

Now he straightened. "Hey Bells". Smiled at her.

She looked... different. She was dressed more prettily than ever before, that was for sure. Even more nicely than after her first year summer beak when he'd seen her. He guessed she'd picked up a few tricks out there in the big bad world. He pictured for a moment the red brick building, photos of which she's shown him from the admission brochures. Shortly before she wrenched out his heart and went far away.

Yep. She looked... different.

They settled down on the crate, side by side. He handed her a soda. She grinned at him too brightly as she took it.

"So how's college, Bells? You guys have a term break now?"

"Oh it's grrrreat as usual," she enthused. There were _so many classes_, and _so many parties_, and _so many boys_. She told him there was just so much going on there she didn't know what to do with herself. She hugged herself as if she couldn't contain her excitement at the thought.

She didn't answer his second question. He didn't notice.

Jacob blinked, looked down at the floor of the garage. He didn't know what he'd expected, but it wasn't this. He wasn't sure he even knew this girl. Did too much college do this to people?

In that moment, he was_ so glad_ he wasn't going anywhere.

"Wow Bells...sounds like... fun." He tucked away the pain in his eyes, dragged his eyes up from the floor. Smiled at her again.

"Yeah...it's so, so..._fun_." she finished half-heartedly, losing track of her words towards the end, starting her next sentence almost in the middle of the last. "So how've you been? School's almost out, huh? You must be so excited about prom."

How did she even know?

OK, maybe Charlie did talk to her - a little bit.

"Yeah - it's no big deal. Billy was hell bent that I go - so I'm going."

"That's great Jake. Awesome. With May huh? She must be so thrilled."

"Uh... it's not exactly like that. She doesn't even have a dress picked out yet. It's like, tomorrow." He didn't know why he was being defensive. But goddamnit if he was going to let her act excited about his goddamn prom.

This, he thought during a brief epiphany, was the low point of his entire life.

"But Jake - she'll look great whatever she wears you know? I mean everyone knows how many guys are in love with May. Quil and Embry never shut up about her. And you'll look... nice... too. It's going to be awesome."

Weird, over-enthused voice again.

_God, is this an East Coast thing? I'm staying the hell away NYC_.

"Sure, sure. I mean it should be fun. I'll tell you how it went." Now Jacob wanted to end the conversation, finish with the Rabbit, and then go for a long, long run as wolf.

He almost wanted Bella gone. Next thing he'd know she'd start telling him about her_ so many frat parties _and the_ so many boys_ - and this he did_ not_ want to hear.

Suddenly she put her hand on his, and leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. "Jake - show a little enthusiasm will you? Not everyday you lose your... virginity." She tripped over her last word, said it kind of quick, then blushed.

He looked at her in horror.

Gone. Replaced by the East Coast look again. "Uh, don't look at me like that. You must have it all planned out - don't you? Hotel after prom.. and all that?"

Now her eyes were shining a bit manically and Jacob wanted to check her temperature to be sure she wasn't running a fever. She sure wasn't talking like a normal person.

"Bells - it's nothing like that. May and I aren't even... together. We're just going for fun."

She seemed to pause at that one. "Billy said... Billy told Charlie... hmmm." Her voice trailed off.

Then she looked up at him again to say, "But proms are famous for inspiring people to get down and dirty, you know Jake? Oh the stories I could tell you about our prom... _hil-a-riou_s." She said it, but she didn't sound so amused.

"I don't know Bells, I'm not really into that stuff." Thinking of frat parties, he added a bit unnecessarily, "If something has to happen it'll happen - we'll see." Leaned back, looked anywhere but at her. Took a sip of his soda and wiped some imaginary grease from his left wrist.

The long pause was unbroken for a few straight minutes.

Finally she sighed, wore a tired, woman-of-the-world-voice.

"Jake, if you're nervous, I mean I could maybe help you, you know? I_ am_ older than you, and I've seen a few things." He felt his mouth fall open but didn't have as much control over his facial muscles as usual, _when Bella wasn't being batshit insane._ Before he could even counter her, she leaned in even closer and said,"I could show you, you know... if you wanted to learn.." she smiled at him and he could swear if she hadn't been looking at him like some sort of know-it-all, she would have looked shy as she said it.

"Uh - learn what exactly?"

"You know," now her words were speeding like a crazy train again, and Jacob wasn't sure he heard everything right, and even when he was sure he heard her, he wasn't sure that could have been right.

"You know, like, if you wanted to practice kissing, or, uh, anything, I mean, that's what friends are for, right?" Now she _was_ blushing.

And Jacob was hard.

"Kissing and... anything? Practice on you?"

He felt his mouth forming the words and he thought he knew what they meant, but the moment he said them he thought they_ couldn't_ mean what he had just said.

_But she'd said them first._

"Yeah, I mean, sure. I'd be happy to help."

"Uh."

Jacob thought about this one carefully.

He was eighteen, never had a girlfriend in his life because he'd spent most of it hankering after the girl next to him, who fell in love with a vampire of all things, and broke so bad he couldn't fix her. Then when he thought things were getting better, she left for the opposite corner of the country. She made hardly any effort to keep in touch once there, except for the times Charlie'd mention Bella asked how he was, if he was doing well, if he was dating someone as yet.

He always thought she was easing her conscience for all the dating she was doing. Because he was a good friend of hers _but such a kid._

But what if she wasn't?

What if she actually - missed him?

And if he racked his brain, he was _pretty damn sure_ East Coast colleges had no break - no vacation time at all - this time of the year.

And the girl sitting next to him in a skirt and a tank top - whom he had rarely seen out of her jeans and hoodie - looked nervous.

And in her nervous babbling was asking her to practice kissing - _and anything_ - on her.

Even Jacob wasn't that stupid. Or hopeless.

He turned to her and said, "Bells, about this lesson..."

She looked at him with a face carefully emptied of any expression. Unfortunately for her he could hear her heartbeat. "Yeah?" She said, in a fairly good try at a nonchalant tone.

"About this lesson. I just wanted to know if you'd be OK to give it to me? I mean would that be OK with you? Kissing me - and - uh stuff?"

She looked at the ground, and her shoulders slumped - and he would have thought she was just being casual or vague or suddenly disgusted - _but since he could smell her_, he knew that in fact she was melting.

She turned to him, molten brown eyes, bubble gum lips, and shyly said, "That'd be OK Jake. Anything you want."

"And if I said, I wanted to practice on you for - always? Forever? As my girlfriend? Would that be OK too?"

He knew he was pushing his luck. He'd been rejected for exactly this question by her so many times, that even he had had to admit defeat, stop trying. Really believe they would always just be friends.

Wait for her without waiting for anything.

And here he was, asking the same old question. Maybe she'd come just to make sure she could still break his heart.

His head was swimming as he looked at her face.

Her eyes were wet.

_Oh._

"I think so Jake. That would be OK too. I mean if you wanted."

He smiled as he turned to pick her up and place her in his lap, and moved his hand to her hair, burying his face in her neck.

College really did teach you a lot.


End file.
